Romeo and Juliet: Prologue

先放一个逐句解释莎士比亚戏剧的网站
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeo_1_1.html

1. CHORUS Two households, both alike in dignity,
   dignity: social status/worth 社会地位声望 both alike in dignity就是两家的地位声望差不多

2. In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

3. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
   grudge 和 mutiny 都与仇恨有关

4. Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
   civil blood ,civil hand,大致是指本是文明时代的人，却双手沾满鲜血

5. From forth the fatal loins of thes two foes,
   loin是腰部，也有生殖器官的意思，foe是敌人

6. A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life
   star-crossed是倒霉的，命不好的意思。这句换一下位置好理解点：A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life from forth the fatal loins of thes two foes

7. Whose misadventured piteous overthrows;
   misdaventured: unfortunate 不幸， piteous：可怜的, overthrow也就是死亡陨落

8. Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
   Doth: 也有人认为应该改成“Do"

9. The fearful passage of their death-marked love
   passage: 也就是指这部剧

10. And the continuance of their patents' rage,

11. Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
    nought 就是not , nought could 也就是 could not

12. Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage；
    这句话的主干是The fearful passage is now the two hours' traffic of our stage接下来的两小时我们我舞台就要进入这个fearful passage的旅程了。

13. The which if you with patient ears attend,
    如果你耐心观看

14. What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend
    What here shall miss,这个不知道是指看戏花掉的两小时，还是指看悲剧而产生的悲伤心情，应该是前者吧
    toil是辛苦工作的意思。our toil shall strive to mend就是说演员们的努力表演一定会补偿你的，也就是这部剧一定是值得看的。